Old games feel more 3d than modern games. does anyone else feel that way?

[MaxKopf]

I thought about making a youtube video about this but I am actually way too lazy so I rather have a discussion with you guys here.

I PERSONALLY feel like first generation 3d games like PlayStation 1 and N64 feel way more 3d than modern games and they still make me go WOW in 2026 even if we have way better graphics nowadays.
Can anyone relate to this?

I think I figured out why old games feel way more 3d. Back then 3d was the latest craze, it was brand new so people were trying to show off what 3d can do. Nowadays everything is way more subtle and I feel like everything kind of happens on a "flat plane" nowadays, there are not too many ups and downs. When I play Mario 64 and I go up a slope I am like WOW. I played the first Pandemonium last night and you get all those crazy camera angles, it already starts with the first level where you just walk down and the camera pans around you, you jump on watermelons and you can go all the way up in the sky and it all feels so magical and really like a 3d world. Maybe this "effect" also works better with less objects and since we have so many objects in modern games the 3d wow effect is gone.

I hope ANYONE knows what I am talking about and can relate.

So what is your take on this?

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

I think it is because old 3D games forced our minds to fill in the gaps much better than modern ones do — I feel a genuine sense of scale and distance while playing an early PS1 game or while staring at the N64's checkered patterns on walls, floors and ceilings. And those things simply don't exist anymore, which is a shame... I can get lost in games like Daggerfall, Quest 64 and Pandemonium! much easier than in any modern, life-like gem precisely because they felt huge, even if they truly weren't.

 

[Zerpina]

You notice that the 3D back then was more noticeable, honestly, and that's because of the horrible polygons and clipping, more so than now. Today, everything is smooth and almost seamless, whereas old games like this and other first generation 3D games and shows were rough, to say the very least.

Take a show like Reboot... by today's standards, its 3D looks awful. But for the time, it looked amazing, and that's kind of the point.

We are so used to 3D now, and for the most part, it looks so smooth and seamless that it doesn't look like 3D, if that makes sense. Of course, there are elements your eye can obviously point out as 3D, like the Transformers, meteors coming in and crashing into Earth, etc. But when 3D was new, you could tell it was 3D, and that made it look more 3D and unnatural compared to what we have today.

 

[Vardalis]

I think it is because old 3D games forced our minds to fill in the gaps much better than modern ones do

Completely agree there, yeah. Your mind did a lot of the work painting in the blanks and it overall made things a lot more impressive. It's why you get that sort of "this is what you imagined X looked like" effect with certain HD texture packs or such, because you probably do remember it looking that way if it's been a while.

Modern games from the PS3 or beyond? Not so much.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Completely agree there, yeah. Your mind did a lot of the work painting in the blanks and it overall made things a lot more impressive. It's why you get that sort of "this is what you imagined X looked like" effect with certain HD texture packs or such, because you probably do remember it looking that way if it's been a while.

Modern games from the PS3 or beyond? Not so much.

Funny you say that because, you see, the PS3 was the first console to make me lose that sense of wonder I used to cling to while playing something meant to 'wow' with distance and depth — even things relying on hugeness just felt flat to me. I guess it's the price we pay for better graphics.

 

[moon200218]

having the camera pulled back from the character can help feel a space more 3D, at least to me

 

[χKai]

The 3D Adventures of World-Runner
Snake Rattle N Roll
Solstice
Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga
Deep Dungeon
The Lone Ranger

There was a lot of good 3D games on NES

 

[MaxKopf]

Funny you say that because, you see, the PS3 was the first console to make me lose that sense of wonder I used to cling to while playing something meant to 'wow' with distance and depth — even things relying on hugeness just felt flat to me. I guess it's the price we pay for better graphics.

Completly unrelated but I saw that you just joined THIS FREAKING MONTH and you are already Level 3 with 378 Messages! How the hell did you do this in such a short time?! I have joined over a year ago and I am still level 0 like some n00b. It it super annoying to me especially since I want to post in the general board but I am not allowed to since I am still level 0 and it takes me 73 more posts until I reach level 1. 73 more posts is insane to reach the first level given that I have already written enough and liked stuff in over a year.

Post automatically merged: Apr 13, 2026

having the camera pulled back from the character can help feel a space more 3D, at least to me

yes. I mean nowadays the camera is very straight forward and always the same. Back then they had not really figured out cameras yet and they would give you those self programmed cinematic cameras. I mean it works great in Pandemonium since you can only walk left and right like an old school platformer and they knew which direction you would go to so they could give you pretty epic camera angles and adjust for a dramatic effects

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Completly unrelated but I saw that you just joined THIS FREAKING MONTH and you are already Level 3 with 378 Messages! How the hell did you do this in such a short time?! I have joined over a year ago and I am still level 0 like some n00b. It it super annoying to me especially since I want to post in the general board but I am not allowed to since I am still level 0 and it takes me 73 more posts until I reach level 1. 73 more posts is insane to reach the first level given that I have already written enough and liked stuff in over a year.

It's 25 posts to level 1, though, not 73.

As for me... Well, I AM a posting freak ;D

 

[MaxKopf]

It's 25 posts to level 1, though, not 73.

As for me... Well, I AM a posting freak ;D

oh I guess it glitched out or took some time to load for me. Now it says 72 posts until the next level but I was level 0 and now it changed and I am finally at least level 1 now. I have to admit I used to post a lot on the retro board of 4chan but they changed how their captcha system works a few months ago and it seems to be buggy. Like I am entering the right stuff in the captcha but it will just load a new captcha and never let me post anything. So sadly 4chan is dead for me and this place is my new home then, I only used the retro game board and comic board anyway. still a bit of a shame.

 

[SeventhSon]

The difference is old 3D games treated the extra dimension as a genuine gameplay element. Running and jumping and bouncing off walls and so on in Super Mario World actually treats the 3D space as real game space. Similar feeling in old Tomb Raider, where you had to measure the running room and jump distance to traverse the enviroment.

As opposed to what came later in games like Uncharted and Gears of War, where there's no navigating much of the space, just "magnetizing" to predetermined points like ledges (painted yellow) or cover where the "gameplay" consists of aiming the stick in the general direction and pushing the action button for auto success.

 

[Russianbias]

As opposed to what came later in games like Uncharted and Gears of War, where there's no navigating much of the space, just "magnetizing" to predetermined points like ledges (painted yellow) or cover where the "gameplay" consists of aiming the stick in the general direction and pushing the action button for auto success.

- this, modern games are just way too streamlined and linear, even when they have "open world", or at least AaAaA segment is.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

oh I guess it glitched out or took some time to load for me. Now it says 72 posts until the next level but I was level 0 and now it changed and I am finally at least level 1 now. I have to admit I used to post a lot on the retro board of 4chan but they changed how their captcha system works a few months ago and it seems to be buggy. Like I am entering the right stuff in the captcha but it will just load a new captcha and never let me post anything. So sadly 4chan is dead for me and this place is my new home then, I only used the retro game board and comic board anyway. still a bit of a shame.

Yeah, that's a shame.

Glad you found us, though!

 

[IyoTheHelpfulWolf]

Combination of the newness of 3D tech and geometric simplicity. Even now, it can be easier to tell what everything is at a glance and mentally estimate distance and scale in late 5th gen and 6th gen games due to developers being limited on how many polygons and objects they could add. Modern games often have lots of visual clutter, which can be more believable depending on the context and allow for more visual storytelling, but as a consequence makes some aspects of the environment harder to parse.

 

[jon2]

Concur

The problem is, modern games only "looks 3D" compared to old ones

The main point is environmental interaction: how can your "avatar" interact with the game world

If it looks very real (most modern games do) but all you can do about it is watch, then it is just a movie, and it won't "feel very 3D"

And games never progressed above the current interaction setup present in the first decade of 2000; it's still the same

 

[χKai]

Is Brandish considered a good 3D game? I like it and it's sequel, but..
I don't know if that constitutes being good

 

[FrootyLoopsSamurai]

I feel like this is kind of analagous with 3D movies from back then vs now as well. A lot of the 3D effects used to emphasize pushing things in your face to an almost nauseating degree. Modern movies with 3D don't feel like that either.

I think the push for realism has made things appear almost photo-like these days. Photos don't feel 3D even if they're taken irl in a literal 3D space. Abstract polygons feel more 3D because they look like 3D objects.

 

[Michael Frank]

I feel like this is kind of analagous with 3D movies from back then vs now as well. A lot of the 3D effects used to emphasize pushing things in your face to an almost nauseating degree. Modern movies with 3D don't feel like that either.

I think the push for realism has made things appear almost photo-like these days. Photos don't feel 3D even if they're taken irl in a literal 3D space. Abstract polygons feel more 3D because they look like 3D objects.

Honestly...HOLY FUCK that's accurate, man this thread is doing some heavy thinking!
Also, EXACTLY, i always play games like Doom or Omega Boost and i really feel that i'm in some kind of place, that i move in it, if i were to put an example it would be Chasm: The Rift, the studio that made it did a convincing illusion with their game, in a way that they made a 3D fps...BEFORE QUAKE.

 

[JustLooking456]

I can get lost in games like Daggerfall, Quest 64 and Pandemonium!

Everytime I see someone show love for Quest 64 it heals a part of my soul.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Everytime I see someone show love for Quest 64 it heals a part of my soul.

It's really good, just not what the N64 needed to recover from FF leaving.

 

[Graves Ruinwalker]

Concur

The problem is, modern games only "looks 3D" compared to old ones

The main point is environmental interaction: how can your "avatar" interact with the game world

If it looks very real (most modern games do) but all you can do about it is watch, then it is just a movie, and it won't "feel very 3D"

And games never progressed above the current interaction setup present in the first decade of 2000; it's still the same

Exactly !
Tomb Raider comes into my mind . You could climb , jump and reach anything if you know how to get there . You got the tools and the freedoms were inclusive with it .

Games back then allowed for interesting approaches that gave scale with simple tricks and mechanics . Ps1 Spiderman had sky-scrapers that you could reach with web-swings there but were two hands full of them and the sky-box with the instant game-over when you fall into the empty void just convinced the player that they are indeed as high as a actual skyscraper. You can hang on the ceilings and use it to "stealth"-attack your enemies while mechanics were there too to use the space and positions very efficiently for different approaches and ways how you get to next location .

 

[BrawlMan]

It varies, but there are plenty of old 3D games from the 5th and 6th generation that had just as much, or more invisible walls than many modern 3D AAA games.

 

[MaxKopf]

Concur

The problem is, modern games only "looks 3D" compared to old ones

The main point is environmental interaction: how can your "avatar" interact with the game world

If it looks very real (most modern games do) but all you can do about it is watch, then it is just a movie, and it won't "feel very 3D"

And games never progressed above the current interaction setup present in the first decade of 2000; it's still the same

Well the thing is also that your character is a tank in modern games. You have your ways or path that you can walk on but the rest is just invisible walls like is the area really there? Back then, at least I feel like it, all the things existed. I could be an idiot and jump onto every object even though I was not supposed to. HECK many modern games do not even have a jump feature and I am completely out of the game if I can not jump onto stuff. I hated Alien Isolation which everyone loved simply because you could not jump in this game.

Think of the platform parts in Half Life 2 where you had to fall down and jump onto this platform and so on. Modern games do not do this anymore.

 

[BrawlMan]

I hated Alien Isolation which everyone loved simply because you could not jump in this game.

The level design is not even meant for jumping in mind. Especially when Alien Isolation is a survival horror game modeled after games like Clock Tower (SNES), Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and Outlast. None of those have jump buttons either, and no one complained back then on those games. Before anyone says RE4 and the games modeled after it, those are context sensitive buttons depending on what part of the environment you're touching. Which can change into something else.

I know most of the AvP games are more on the action side than horror, but jumping doesn't do much (for the Marines anyway) in those games either, other than some platforming puzzle on the occasion. In AvP on Jaguar and Alien Trilogy on PS1, you couldn't jump in either (Doom clones), and both games still gets lots of praise for its tense atmosphere.

 

[Deleted member 466]

holy tier nostalgia rose tinted glasses post.

>simple mesh polygon
"omg 3D!"
>state of the art model with shaders, tesselation, shaders, physics, lighting
"not 3D :("